Renewal Commissions As Collateral: Special UCC Filing Office Regulations Can Lead To Unperfected Security Interests

LexisNexis (May 24, 2017, 1:51 PM EDT) -- A Wisconsin bankruptcy court has ruled that an "assignment" of insurance renewal commissions was a security interest rather than an outright sale of the commissions, so that the bank's failure to file a UCC financing statement allowed the customer's trustee in bankruptcy to avoid the assignment.  The court also ruled that the bank's security interest in a third-party promissory note was unperfected because, although the bank made a UCC filing, the bank checked the wrong box on the financing statement and thus designated the debtor as an "organization" rather than an individual. All in all, it was not a good day for the bank....